


Over the Rising Sun

by james



Category: Enemy Mine (1985)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Families of Choice, Fix-It, Gender Neutral Character, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-07
Updated: 2014-12-07
Packaged: 2018-02-28 13:28:07
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2734307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/james/pseuds/james
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Davidge and Shigan are marooned together, and from that they become a family.  This is a fix-it for the movie, where nobody dies and they live happily ever after.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Over the Rising Sun

**Author's Note:**

  * For [exeterlinden](https://archiveofourown.org/users/exeterlinden/gifts).



> It would be impossible to faithfully replicate the use of drac language in this story, given that for the events of this story both Willis Davidge and Jeriba Shigan would be speaking both languages with far more fluency than is provided in either the movie or the book version. Rather than use only one or two words of Drac, I have simply rendered everything in English for ease of reading. Assume that they are speaking both languages, mixing words as bilingual persons will, and that, when relevant, only Drac is being spoken.
> 
> I also want to clarify that the drac are apparently gender-neutral (or they're bi-gendered or genderfluid or God only knows.) I have tried to remain true to the book in referring to drac as 'it' instead of he or she.
> 
> Finally, I have used both the book and movie for reference. I hope that anyone who has not read the book will not be confused, and that those who have will not be annoyed by any canonical omissions.

The cave was so much nicer than the haphazard hut they'd built. Davidge was glad he'd gone on his trek, even if it had been the only thing of import that he'd come across. The planet they were stuck on had very little to offer for either human or drac and the barrage of meteors seemed to be regular enough that no one in his right mind would want to try to live here.

Granted, he wasn't convinced either of them was in their right mind any longer, but at least he was no longer feeling that under-the-skin itch to get out and go explore. (It might strike him again, but instead of worrying about that, Davidge preferred to hope they'd be rescued from this damned planet before he explored it's surface.)

Jerry, for its part, was nesting, as was entirely expected. Davidge still hadn't quite wrapped his head around it: Jerry was going to be a parent. They were going to have a tiny baby Drac to take care of, on this desolate planet. It was, Davidge was sure, possibly the worst situation ever to bring a child into.

He still couldn't help but smile when he saw Jerry humming to itself, sewing little patches of tanned turtle skin to make the baby's blanket. It was weird and bizarre and so very unlike anything Davidge had ever considered for himself, but in the evening he would sit by the fire helping to scrape new pieces of skin to dry, and practice singing Zammis' lineage, correcting his pronunciation to Jerry's approval.

Davidge kept track of how many days it had been as best he could, by how long it took him to read through the _Talmun_. If he read the same number of pages each night, he could get through it in about ten days, but a lot of the time he had to stop and ask questions, which led to him and Jerry discussing (or more often arguing) over passages. So, one read-through was two weeks, and they'd been in the cave system for a week now. Even if it meant nothing, since Davidge didn't really know how long the days were. They felt longer than an Earth day, but he suspected that had something to do with how hard it was to simply sleep through the night.

They both tended to more or less sleep the same amount, but most nights one thing or another would wake them – strange noises and changes in the wind and, once, a baffling red light far off in the distance. (When he'd had his fit of needing to go explore, Davidge had gone walking in that direction, though he hadn't explained his choice to Jerry. He never did find the source of the light, but it had led him to the caves so he was calling it a win.)

Davidge didn't know if they'd been stuck here for a year, or more, or less. He didn't know how much longer they'd be stuck here – and whenever he started thinking about it, he had to make himself stop. That was what had led him to go exploring in the first place, feeling restless and scared and depressed at being marooned. He had to stay here, now. He had to stay and make this cave a decent place to live so they could welcome a bouncing baby lizard to its new home.

Only dracs, he muttered to himself. Only Jerry would do this to him.

One afternoon they taught each other lullabies. 

Jerry scoffed. "That makes no sense. Why put a cradle in a tree? Of course the wind would blow it down. Do all lullabies talk only of danger to your children? Is this how humans weed out the unfit children and grow only strong but stupid ones? This says so much about your people." Jerry shook its head, but Davidge could see the humor in its eyes. "You will not be putting Zammis in a tree, Willy."

"Like you're any better, with your 'bathe in green mud'; and walking underwater; how is that any better?" Davidge knew half of the problem was simply translation; they both slipped back and forth from English to Drac depending on what words they could remember, and God only knew what they were actually saying half the time. 

"It is soothing and instructive," Jerry began, but Davidge just rolled his eyes. He hoped that when the child actually made an appearance, it didn't have any expectations about the songs it was going to be falling asleep to. Davidge sat back and continued arguing with Jerry about whose songs were stupider – he began reciting one of the more popular songs form his own childhood, one that he knew perfectly well made no sense, and halfway through Jerry caught on and began laughing so hard it fell over onto its side.

Davidge smiled and went back to scraping turtle skin.

God, what a family they were going to make.

 

~~~

 

When they saw the drac ship overhead, they both froze – then Jerry scrambled back to the cave shouting at Davidge, who didn't really need to be told to grab Zammis and keep it close. Moments later, Jerry came back, holding the two most precious things they'd saved from the old wreckage when they'd been marooned: two flares.

Jerry held the first aloft and fired; they watched as the bright green fire split the sky drawing a line to mark their position. They waited; Davidge could barely feel his heart beat and Zammis squirmed against him, insisting it was too big to be held, Papa, and what is going on? Davidge held it tight – oh, God, the ship wasn't coming back. He didn't dare look over to Jerry to tell it to light the second flare; Jerry would know. He could feel the drac shifting on its feet, waiting impatiently, because if the ship didn't see the first one they had to be sure it saw the second. 

They wouldn't have a third chance.

But then he saw it. The drac ship was coming back, flying towards them. Then the sound of the engines hit and Zammis clapped its hands over its ears with a cry of dismay. Davidge could barely move as the ship slowly lowered itself into the widest space near where they stood – they'd begun clearing the trees slowly over the last two years, partly for just this reason, though they'd rarely dared to mention it. But they'd discussed farming, and if they were living the rest of their lives here they figured they might as well give it a go.

But now there was a ship, an actual ship, lowering down onto the planet, and it was going to rescue them.

Jerry began walking and Davidge hesitated, then followed, stopping when Jerry whirled on him and hissed, "Keep Zammis close."

Davidge nodded, knowing exactly why. Jerry had said, once, in those long cold nights when they'd whispered about what ifs – if the Drac were the ones to rescue them, they might not shoot him if Davidge were holding a drac child.

Davidge had half-jokingly teased Jerry about that 'might,' but now he clung to Zammis, not only as a hope for the dracs' restraint, but also simply because he couldn't not. He watched as the ship landed, visible through the impossibly tall trees he'd grown almost familiar with. He stood just at the edge of the clearing; Jerry kept going, walking ahead as the ship's door cycled open and a short ramp came down.

Two dracs in uniform appeared and stopped by Jerry; as they talked Davidge could see them looking past it at himself and Zammis.

Zammis' arms were tight around his neck, now, as if it knew something was very wrong. Davidge spoke quietly, repeating that it would be fine, everything was all right, though Davidge didn't know if he could even let himself believe it.

Finally, after a discussion that stretched on so long it nearly brought Davidge to his knees, Jerry turned and led the other dracs towards them. Davidge tried not to show his fear – he stared at Jerry's face, but from this distance it was hard to make out the tiny details that Davidge had learned so well how to read. He couldn't see if Jerry was assured or afraid, couldn't tell anything by the way it walked or looked or--

"Papa, who are they?" Zammis asked, and Davidge realized it had been asking the question over and over.

"They're Drac," he managed, but the rest of the words stuck in his throat. But of course Zammis would know that, would recognize the people of its parent as opposed to Davidge's human race.

He heard Zammis make a noise in the back of its throat, the beginning of scornful reproach – Zammis was growing willful and opinionated and never showed hesitation about telling either of them when it knew something perfectly well.

But then Jerry was there, and the two strange drac were standing before them, regarding Davidge and Zammis. Davidge managed to meet their gaze, but couldn't bring himself to speak.

After a moment, one of the drac curled its mouth slightly, in a gesture that on Jerry meant confusion and disbelief. Davidge had no idea if that was universal or just Jerry, but the drac tilted its head slightly and said, "Greetings, Willis Davidge, Jeriba Zammis. We shall be taking you home."

For a second Davidge couldn't make himself breathe – and Jerry gave a gentle laugh, and stepped closer, pressing its hand on Davidge's arm. "Home to Drac," Jerry clarified, no doubt remembering their discussion about whether their someday rescuers might separate them, require them each to return to their home planets. "Apparently the war is over, and there are embassies upon both our worlds, where our people are attempting to learn to get along." It made a face Davidge recognized well.

Davidge rolled his eyes. "If they do as well as we did, we're all in trouble."

Jerry gave a laugh, but leaned in, pressing its cheek against his. Davidge saw the surprise on the other dracs' faces at the gesture and he wanted to make a rude gesture of his own – but his arms were full with holding Zammis. They might have accepted Jerry's words, but they clearly hadn't understood or believed them, or perhaps they were merely shocked at seeing a drac show affection to a human.

He was tempted to give Jerry a kiss, but the meaning would probably be lost on them, and besides, Zammis was wriggling in exactly the way that meant he was going to get free and start running in another two seconds.

"Let's go home, then," Davidge said. "I hope your parent doesn't mind radical lifestyles," he added. 

Jerry slipped its fingers into Davidge's and said, "We shall distract my parent with Zammis, and make a run for it." 

"Grandparents, the same in every species," Davidge sighed. Then he spent the next hour answering ten million questions from Zammis while they tried to pack up what things they wanted to keep – Zammis insisted on taking the football, despite Davidge explaining they could get a real one, from Earth, now. Then they were walking up the ramp of the drac ship, with ten million more questions distracting Davidge from the instinctive fear that this would turn out to be a trick. But Jerry didn't let go of his hand even once, and soon – years not soon enough – they were leaving the planet behind.

 

~~~  
 _  
And so came the day, in the far future, when Jeriba Davidge stepped before the Council to sing the lineage song of his child, Jeriba Shigan. Not quite so rare, now, families that mixed human and drac, but the Jeriba Clan was known as the first, and the stories were told of how it came to be that love found its way past obstacles that no other could._

_Equally re-told are the legends surrounding the first Drac-Human football game that marked the beginning of the League, and how it all began in the side courtyard of the Jeriba Clan with just one human and his drac child, with other drac children peeping over the walls and slowly being enticed to play._

_There are still great debates about changes in the rules, but purists insist that the game be played in the spirit it began, and the Official Drac Football League still plants tall trees throughout the field of play, and upon each is carved a name of a great player from the past. At the First Field, upon the largest and oldest tree, is carved, "Jeriba Willis Davidge."_


End file.
